Founder of the Omnipotence Mission of God, Pastor Oloruntimilehin Daramola, speaks with BIODUN BUSARI on the need for Christians to fortify themselves against bandits attacking churches

In a viral video, you asked your church members to fortify against bandit attacks. Can you explain what you mean?

I’m a Christian and the founder of a church. We call on God through the name of Jesus. This means that it is Jesus who takes our supplications to the Almighty God, His Father. This God is the creator of heaven and earth. We call on God, and He answers us. But all of a sudden, some people emerged and swore to attack churches and kill worshippers of God, so we need to oppose this. How do we oppose this? We can achieve this by fortifications. I’m not asking people to carry guns, cutlasses, or other weapons. But we can defend ourselves through the use of traditional means. We don’t have any power to stop these bandits from attacking churches because the government has not given citizens licences to bear arms for self-defence. It then means that we cannot fold our arms; rather, we should deploy means to fortify ourselves. This is exactly the focal point of my message to church worshippers.

As a Christian, don’t you think this admonition is strange?

It is not strange. This is Biblical in Matthew chapter 26, when Judas Iscariot led Jesus’ enemies to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. When Peter saw what was to befall them, he drew out a sword from the sheath. Nobody knew he had a sword. What was that? It was a fortification at that time. Peter cut off an ear of one of Jesus’ attackers. It was Jesus Himself who cautioned Peter to sheathe his sword. Not only that, He picked up the ear and put it back. That was even one of the reasons that Peter denied Jesus. Peter would have felt offended that he was defending his Master, but He chose not to be defended. He might have thought that if he went too far in defending Jesus before the crucifixion, He wouldn’t associate with it, and it would backfire. I reiterate that Jesus has the power to save and deliver, but He does things as He wants, and no human or angel queries Him. If He decides not to save His people when they call, there is nothing anybody can do about it. Jesus was not aggressive. Aggression is not in His nature. All this translates to one point: we should fortify ourselves traditionally. We should go back to our traditional origin of using herbs and roots.

Does this not negate Biblical teachings?

Trust me, it doesn’t negate serving the Almighty God and Jesus Christ, whom we call on every day. In Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1, the Bible says we should put aside first the doctrine of Christ, but go into perfection. What does that mean? It signifies that there was a time when the enemies of the early Church were attacking and persecuting believers, so the disciples resolved to put aside Christ’s doctrines and principles for a while. This would allow them to seek fortification outside Christ’s doctrines. Likewise, in Genesis chapter 1, you will see the story of creation by God through His commands. But in Genesis chapter 2 verse 9, God talked about the tree of life, which was created for healing. It was meant for good and evil. It means that the tree has two functions. It could be used for good things and bad things. Apparently, God doesn’t condemn the use of roots and herbs. It is believers who do so.

Can you perform the rites?

I’m not in the position to do it. But the little I know about it, I’m ready to do it. I said in the video that if there is anyone who is an expert in fortifying people traditionally, he should come and do it for my members. I insist that I can’t let my church members be victims of bandit attacks. One person can’t do it for all the people, but this could be achieved as a collective effort. This cause has turned into a collaborative project.

What are the expected outcomes?

When these fortifications are done, they serve different purposes. They will not let bullets penetrate; they will create confusion among the bandits or attackers before they even get to our churches. People should go to different places they know to fortify themselves so that the public won’t think I’m indirectly calling people into my church. Please, I’m not advocating worshipping idols. That’s not the message. And I’m not saying you should deny Jesus. You will still call on Jesus, and He will answer. We are only being self-defensive. The church worshippers killed by bandits also carried the Bible and called on Jesus. It is the same Bible that says, ‘My people perish for lack of knowledge.’ And what do you do if you lack knowledge? You seek it. A friend of mine who is also a popular pastor has a bulletproof vest that he wears. Now, what should be the fate of many people who cannot afford bulletproof vests? Then we should turn to making our own traditional bulletproof vests with the use of roots and herbs. Tell me, if popular pastors are using bulletproof vests, is it a sin for members of the church to use other means of bulletproof materials for protection? The fortification should not only be for members; it should also be for churches, which will make it difficult for enemies to attack them.

Now, let’s talk about bandits. What do you think is encouraging banditry?

I’ll say that there is no country without some form of security challenges, but in Africa, banditry is the most common. Having said this, banditry is spreading its tentacles because of the slackness of our security apparatus. Other countries don’t allow criminality and insecurity to spread as we are experiencing in Nigeria now. How do security systems curb insecurity across the globe? There are provisions for personnel, equipment, and intelligence. In a nutshell, there are enough funds to fight insecurity, but this is not the case in Nigeria.

What measures will you advise the government to employ to address these security issues?

Firstly, the government should approve state policing, and if they like, it could be regional policing, just like the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun. State police should be encouraged and funded. It has been analysed that this is the system that best understands the terrain of every locality. So, the Federal Government should support it. Let us have state police in all the geopolitical zones of the country. With this, it will be difficult for bandits to terrorise local communities because they will have adequate personnel protecting people. And I want to add this: the operatives should be provided with sophisticated equipment to tackle terrorism and banditry. Secondly, I don’t subscribe to the idea of freeing terrorists or bandits who are arrested. When they are caught, they should be charged to court to face prosecution. But when bandits know they will be freed if they are nabbed, they will be bold to perpetrate more criminality.

There have been debates that the government should license arms for self-defence. What’s your take?

Yes, I’m in support of the government giving licences to citizens who want to bear arms for protection. When criminals are aware that the people they want to attack have weapons to defend themselves, they will think twice before their operations. This will ultimately reduce insecurity. The United States had been in this situation before; it allowed its people to be licensed and carry guns. And it got to a point that when the crimes had reduced, they started retrieving the arms from them through legislation. The same thing can be done in this country. (The PUNCH)

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